Cubic nets $8 million transit contract

San Diego company will convert fare vending machines in nation's capital.

San Diego’s Cubic Corp. said Monday that its public transportation division has been awarded a contract for more than $8 million to convert paper magnetic fare card vending machines in the Washington, D.C. area to reloadable contactless smart-card vending machines.

The conversion will allow public transit riders to buy and reload their SmarTrip transit smart cards for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The project is part of the agency’s plan to eliminate paper ticketing from its fare system and convert to all contactless media by the spring of 2016.

Cubic will upgrade more than 500 machines with hardware kits including smart-card readers and related software on all Washington D.C. area Metrorail lines, including the Silver Line to Dulles Airport, which recently opened. Cubic produced and installed the fare collection system to the new line under a separate contract.

Cubic has worked on the Washington D.C. transit agency’s fare collection system for years, installing the original magnetic-based system in use since the early 1970s, and designing the SmarTrip system that first opened to the public in 1999.

“We’re pleased to be part of WMATA’s transition to a paperless system, as well as having been so involved throughout the agency’s entire fare collection history,” said Matt Newsome, senior vice president and general manager of Cubic Transportation Systems in North America.

The Washington D.C. transit authority operates the second largest rail transit system and the fifth-largest bus network in the United States. Cubic’s shares ended Monday down 2 cents at $43.64 on the New York Stock Exchange.